Throughout history, many people from many cultures have produced stories and works of literature about their beliefs and ways of life. Two stories that we discussed in class, “The Earth on Turtle’s Back” and “When Grizzlies Walked Upright” show how the Native Americans passed down their stories and were able to spread their culture to others. Reading stories from the Native American culture helps us learn more about others, teaches us to respect cultures that are different from our own, and reflects on the beliefs of people from that time period. Through the use of origin myths and oral tradition, the Native people of North America were able to keep their culture alive even to today. In the first story, “Earth on Turtle’s Back”, the beliefs …show more content…
This is an example of how the Native Americans were very curious about explaining their origins. This story also shows how the Native Americans found explanations for the incredible wonders of nature that surrounded them. The story first explains how animals were created by the sky chief when he “broke the small end of his giant stick and threw the pieces in the rivers, the longer pieces became beaver and otter; the smaller pieces became fish” (24). The sky chief also created land and sky animals through a similar process in the story. This also reminded me of the Creation story in Genesis when God created the animals of the sea and all the birds in the sky. These origin stories also led to different traditions within the Native American culture. This is shown in the story when it is explained that “the Indians around Mt. Shasta don’t kill a grizzly bear. Whenever a grizzly killed an Indian, his body was burned and stones were placed on the spot over time until there was a great pile of stones marked his death place” (26). These examples in the story taught me more about the culture of the Native American tribe, Modoc, and how close they were with nature and the wonders of their